Latest:
CTRL workers to walk
10:32 04 Nov 2004
|
All 400 workers on Laing O’Rourke’s £311m Contract 105 for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) will walk off site today if TGWU and GMB representatives are not allowed on site.
The decision follows a meeting on Monday afternoon by a cross section of workers from the project who claim they have been poorly represented by UCATT, the only union allowed on the site, during negotiations regarding O’Rourke’s new controversial working conditions.
Before the strike threat both the GMB and TGWU had been banned from the London site.
“The line’s in the sand,” said Steve Hedley, a representative of the Joint Sites Committee made up of members from the GMB and RMT. “Workers want different union representatives to fight their corner with regards to this agreement.”
O’Rourke appears to be bowing to worker power after shelving this Friday’s deadline for all employees to be signed up to its new contract rather than risk walk-outs of more than 1,000 staff across sites nationwide.
Previously workers faced the sack if they did not sign the new agreement, which is being shunned by staff who say it will leave them financially worse off.
O’Rourke has also reportedly given 12 workers on its £35m Newham Hospital PFI contract who signed the contract an opportunity to change their minds.
The GMB union has written to O’Rourke asking for a meeting with itself, UCATT and the TGWU to talk through the contractor’s working agreement.
The GMB’s intervention follows a meeting in Euston last week that saw about 70 workers from CTRL agree to strike if they faced the sack for not signing the agreement.
Workers at T5, due to sign up to the new contract when work ends in the next six weeks, also agreed to down tools.
O’Rourke has yet to respond to the GMB’s letter and it remains unclear whether it will enter into talks with the unions, or continue to force through its new contract.
GMB regional organiser Tom Kelly, who does not condone the strike, said: “We need to go through this contract and find a compromise. Not all of the contract is bad, but there are elements, such as not allowing long weekend breaks for workers, which are not acceptable.”
Kelly also played down reports that the GMB was looking to recruit UCATT-registered workers. “What we have asked is for workers to tell the unions that they are unhappy if they feel they have been poorly represented.”
Laing O’Rourke refused to comment.
The decision follows a meeting on Monday afternoon by a cross section of workers from the project who claim they have been poorly represented by UCATT, the only union allowed on the site, during negotiations regarding O’Rourke’s new controversial working conditions.
Before the strike threat both the GMB and TGWU had been banned from the London site.
“The line’s in the sand,” said Steve Hedley, a representative of the Joint Sites Committee made up of members from the GMB and RMT. “Workers want different union representatives to fight their corner with regards to this agreement.”
ADVERTISEMENT
O’Rourke appears to be bowing to worker power after shelving this Friday’s deadline for all employees to be signed up to its new contract rather than risk walk-outs of more than 1,000 staff across sites nationwide.
Previously workers faced the sack if they did not sign the new agreement, which is being shunned by staff who say it will leave them financially worse off.
O’Rourke has also reportedly given 12 workers on its £35m Newham Hospital PFI contract who signed the contract an opportunity to change their minds.
The GMB union has written to O’Rourke asking for a meeting with itself, UCATT and the TGWU to talk through the contractor’s working agreement.
The GMB’s intervention follows a meeting in Euston last week that saw about 70 workers from CTRL agree to strike if they faced the sack for not signing the agreement.
Workers at T5, due to sign up to the new contract when work ends in the next six weeks, also agreed to down tools.
O’Rourke has yet to respond to the GMB’s letter and it remains unclear whether it will enter into talks with the unions, or continue to force through its new contract.
GMB regional organiser Tom Kelly, who does not condone the strike, said: “We need to go through this contract and find a compromise. Not all of the contract is bad, but there are elements, such as not allowing long weekend breaks for workers, which are not acceptable.”
Kelly also played down reports that the GMB was looking to recruit UCATT-registered workers. “What we have asked is for workers to tell the unions that they are unhappy if they feel they have been poorly represented.”
Laing O’Rourke refused to comment.
ADVERTISEMENT
Most Viewed Articles
ADVERTISEMENT